Outside looking in
While I was walking back from the mailbox I ust could not resist taking even more pictures of the beautiful garden, this time taken from outside the fence.
I know I will wake up one morning in the not-too-distant future and find out there was an overnight freeze, and all of this color will be gone. So I’m just trying to squeeze as much of it as I can.
Montana is also out there everyday harvesting everything she can!
The two beehives moved from the pump house to their new home behind the greenhouse. Moving beehives is actually fairly difficult and a bit stressful. You have to disassemble the hive components and then reassemble them in the new location. This is fairly disruptive to everyone. I even had a bee (or maybe yellowjacket, they're everywhere) sting me through my protective face mesh. Then you have to set sticks in front of their entrance so that when the foragers leave the hive they notice the sticks and it triggers them to "re-orient" themselves relative to the position of the sun. If they don't re-orient, then they just keep trying to go back to the spot where the hive used to be. The rule in beekeeping is "10 feet or 10 miles", meaning it's easiest to move them within 10 feet or over 10 miles - it's the in-between that tends to confuse them. The hive seems to have relatively normal activity, so I hope not too many bees were lost in the move.
Luckily we had just the right amount of gravel foundation to fit in the hive table and still have room to work from behind. Plus in this new position the hives do not directly face the fierce wind that comes from the southwest anymore.
Not a garden shot, but one more random outdoor photo: All my daughter has ever wanted was an outdoor clothesline. She and Elijah rigged this one up, and it is surprisingly strong. But we really have to get this girl a proper high-tension clothesline!
